Under the guise of mentor and muse, a frustrated writer and her ambitious teenage protégé take an illicit summer road trip fraught with racial and sexual tension. This is a compelling psychological novel about social norms, artistic ambition, and obsession.

Maggie Barnett works in the media center of a school in Flint, Michigan where she meets Taezha Riverton, an aspiring teenage writer. After discovering that Maggie is also a writer, Taezha turns to her as both mentor and friend.

Alone and childless, it's not enough for Maggie to take Tae to restaurants and poetry slams. Although Tae’s mother has nothing against Maggie, she is less than thrilled when Maggie proposes to take her daughter on a summer road trip. Permission is never explicitly granted, but shortly after school is out for the summer, Maggie and Tae head for the Southeast.

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Product Description

Under the guise of mentor and muse, a frustrated writer and her ambitious teenage protégé take an illicit summer road trip fraught with racial and sexual tension. This is a compelling psychological novel about social norms, artistic ambition, and obsession.

Maggie Barnett works in the media center of a school in Flint, Michigan where she meets Taezha Riverton, an aspiring teenage writer. After discovering that Maggie is also a writer, Taezha turns to her as both mentor and friend.

Alone and childless, it's not enough for Maggie to take Tae to restaurants and poetry slams. Although Tae’s mother has nothing against Maggie, she is less than thrilled when Maggie proposes to take her daughter on a summer road trip. Permission is never explicitly granted, but shortly after school is out for the summer, Maggie and Tae head for the Southeast.

About the Author

SUSAN SAGE was a recipient of Wayne State University's Tompkins Award in Creative Writing. An educator for over twenty years, Susan has worked as an adult education teacher, an educational coordinator, and an academic interventionist at both the elementary and secondary levels. Born in Detroit, Susan lives in Flushing, Michigan, with her husband, Tom, and two cats. They have a daughter, Sarah, who is also an author.

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4.4 out of 5 stars
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3.0 out of 5 starsCreepy cross the line adventure.

5 May 2018 - Published on Amazon.com

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This book is very strange. Maggie is basically having a midlife crisis; she has had writer's block for years, killing her career as a writer, and she is bored with her job in a school library. She decides to go on an adventure.

The plan started as a legal, legitimate adventure. Then things got complicated. She decided to take a child along. She doesn't really get permission, and she chooses a girl with a complicated family and an even more complicated family history.

Maggie basically takes over Taezha, the girl. Taezha gradually gets upset with Maggie; halfway through the book, Maggie's carefree lifestyle is revealed to be more of a psychological upset, and her sister is the one that absorbs the drama that Maggie creates.

I had trouble staying focused on the story. It is a slow, rambling read; the entire first three quarters of the book are Maggie and Taezha landing in a new place and writing for a few days before moving on. It also had some editing errors that complicated the story. The Sulia storyline kept me interested; I was disappointed that that story went nowhere. I also expected Maggie to have a complete meltdown, resulting in professional care. That didn't happen either.

This was a pretty decent book, albeit very confusing. I guess I expected there to be more to it, for there to be some major revelation about Maggie's character near the end as the whole story felt like it was drawing towards that. However, the end kind of left everything up in the air and unresolved. But, upon further reflection, I think my feeling of disappointment just stemmed from expecting it to be something it wasn't meant to be. It seems this book was meant to be a narrative divulging the truly strange, messed up, scarred characters humans can be as they struggle to come to terms with their lives. Maggie struggles constant throughout the book with her aging body, her disappointing writing career, her disappointing love life, her feelings for Tae and her own sexuality. Tae struggles with her feelings over the identity of her true parents, her relationship with Maggie, her writing. They both have dealt with a lot of pain and hurt and find comfort with each other at times. Other times, they wonder why life has brought them together.The perspective switches mostly between Tae and Maggie but also Tyler and Sulie. It's a bit confusing at times because you have to infer a couple sentences into the new section or chapter whose perspective you're now reading. Also, sometimes the information is mixed up. For example, the true nature of Tyler's relationship to Tae is revealed to different characters at different times, and it seems like the author mixes this up by stating at different times that this or that character does or doesn't know and it's contradictory to what was already written.It's quite a compelling read and very fluid. The style of writing is very easy to follow and you find you get wrapped up in it right away. All in all, it's a very interesting book that I think will stick with people a while after they read it.

I just finished reading this compelling psychological novel, A Mentor and Her Muse by Susan Sage. I found the cover of this book to be as thoughtful and provoking as the contents were creative and artistically written. The main character, Maggie a fifty-something frustrated writer works in the media center of a school in Michigan. At work is where she meets Tae, an ambitious teenager with a difficult home life. Tae is an inspiring writer and when she discovers that Maggie is also a writer she looks to her for guidance. Maggie becomes both mentor and friend. Although warned by coworkers against it, she spends time with her after school and on weekends. It's not enough for Maggie to take her muse to restaurants, bookstore cafes, and poetry readings so she proposes to take her on a summer road trip. Quintana, Tae's Mother, isn't happy about it but also doesn't say no, so shortly after school is out for the summer, Maggie and the fifteen-year-old head for the Southeast. Will the illicit summer road trip, tinged with racial and sexual tension, land Maggie in legal trouble? Will Maggie come through for Tae and save her from her misery while helping her develop as a writer? I enjoyed the vivid descriptions and emotional detail of the author's writing as she answered these questions and took me on the road trip along with Maggie and Tae. I would recommend this book to my friends and family as well as all others wanting to escape for a while with a well-rounded read.